Shawl and all

When I was researching Shaker communities and lifestyles before designing the clock canvas, I came across a fascinating tidbit. Not only did they seek perfection in everything they produced themselves, the Shakers also admired objects of beauty and fine quality constructed by others of "the world."

During the latter part of the 1800s, many Shaker communities in the Northeast sent representatives down South to purchase finely-crafted silk shawls for Shaker "sisters" to wear inside the dormitories for additional warmth. What surprised me most was what the sisters did with these shawls: they tie-dyed them!

So when I rummaged through my stash for an appropriate thread to stitch the shawl, I remembered one I'd tried before for a sky, but had discarded because it was too variegated and unrealistic for that purpose--but just perfect for my shawl! Using Vineyard Silk Tone on Tone "Atlantic," I auditioned a number of stitches on doodle canvas and decided that a diagonal vertical oblong cross stitch worked over two threads high would be the right scale for the shawl. I added some looped turkey work for the fringe to add to the 3-D effect.

I guess sometimes it pays to purchase a thread you fall in love with, even if you don't know what you'll use it for--sooner or later, the perfect occasion presents itself!

Winding up the clock

Working diligently on the background, I cleared the center of the canvas so I could start stitching the clock!

The original clock upon which mine is based was constructed of cherry, so I rummaged through my stash and found a thread just the right color: Sheep's Silk "Camel," a silk/wool blend that appears more "mottled" than "overdyed." The subtlety of its variegation makes it ideal for imitating the grain in wood. The rounded top was worked in a satin stitch, with the rest of the case in either tent or slanted gobelin stitches.

The inside of the clock case was stitched with the same thread as the chair: Impressions #1112. But for the clock, I used only one strand in basketweave--over a canvas already painted dark brown--so the inside recedes and the case dominates. Visually, there's a big difference between one strand or two, isn't there?

The face of the clock was tent-stitched in DMC floss, using white, #318 for the circle around the dial, and black for the hands. I had originally painted in all 12 hour positions, but when I went to stitch them they were positioned just too close together to look right. I finally gave up gracefully and indicated only the 12, 3, 6 and 9 positions.

The pendulum was stitched with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002V. The drop was worked in tent stitches, while the weight was worked in a satin stitch first in one direction, then in another with the canvas turned 90 degrees to pad this area and make it look rounder.

All that remains to be stitched is the shawl on the left, which I hope to finish by the end of the week!

Slight change of plan

I changed my mind about my plan of attack for the Shaker clock canvas: trying to be very, very good, I worked on more background across the top so I could stitch the wooden peg rail.

This peg rail is painted, so I needed a thread with a matte look. I often use #5 perle cotton to stitch wood, but this time the twist in the perle cotton produced too much of a sheen. From the depths of my stash, I produced the perfect thread which I distinctly remember buying 10 years ago!

Matte 18 is unfortunately no longer made by Rainbow Gallery--why, I haven't a clue. I used slanted gobelin stitches for the rail itself, and then scratched my head over what to do for the pegs. These are painted over a single thread, and the dilemma was how to produce a round peg from a somewhat square thread! Duh!--French knots, of course! You may need to enlarge the photo to see them more clearly, but the way they turned out, it really looks like the chair is hanging from the pegs!

Now--on to the clock!

Sitting down on the job

I've started the background on the Shaker wall clock canvas using DMC white cotton floss in basketweave. Boring? Not really--basketweave doesn't bore me, and since the walls in Shaker dormitories were usually a smooth, white finish, this seemed to be the best choice of stitch.

I've extended the stitching a few rows beyond the border of the design area to accommodate framing later. While the margin line does show through, it will disappear under the lip of the matte once the piece is framed.

Now on to the chair! Shakers were among the very first in America to produce chairs for sale on a large scale: the earliest Shaker chairs offered to "the world" were produced at the New Lebanon, New York, community in 1789. Always striving for a perfect product, they selected hardwoods like cherry and maple for construction, not only for their durability but also from a practical standpoint--these woods were indigenous to the area.

My chair was constructed of Impressions #1112 in a combination of tent and gobelin stitches. I first practiced on doodle canvas with one strand and soon realized I wouldn't sit on a chair that flimsy! I then tried two strands--much better! Since it's a silk/wool blend, Impressions offers the sheen of silk to imitate the look of well-oiled wood and the loft of wool to make the stitches stand out from the background. I then added a "rush" seat of DMC #5 perle cotton #436 in a mosaic stitch.

I'll continue stitching the background so I can treat myself to working on the clock itself!

Turning back the clock

I'm returning once again to the subject of clocks, this time adapting to needlepoint a Shaker wall clock dating to 1840.

The Shaker religious movement was founded by Mother Ann Lee, an illiterate factory worker, who fled religious persecution in England in 1774 with eight believers and settled outside of Albany, New York. Officially organized as the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing in 1787, the group was more commonly referred to as "shaking Quakers" or Shakers because of the vigorous and ecstatic dancing in their religious observances. They established communities in which men and women lived as brothers and sisters, where all property was held in common, and each was assigned a task to help transform earth into heaven. At the time the clock I've modeled was originally produced, there were more than 6,000 Shaker believers living in 19 communal villages in New England, Ohio and Kentucky.

The Shakers were well ahead of their time in their belief in social and economic equality: in the year they officially organized as a religion, equal rights were granted to women believers, and Southern Shaker communities began freeing slaves and buying back the freedom of enslaved believers in 1817. Inventors of hundreds of labor-saving devices, including clothespins and circular saws, which they freely shared without patents, the Shakers strove for perfection in everything they did, raising the benchmark for American crafts and architecture.

The Shakers brought new meaning to the saying "A place for everything, and everything in its place." On the walls of their communal dormitories were wooden peg rails, upon which everything used in daily life--from coats, shawls, baskets, fruit carriers, clocks and chairs--was neatly stored. My vignette attempts to capture this "moment in time" in Shaker life, and I'll be working this canvas with some simple threads and stitches in keeping with the Shaker spirit.

Ticking off another project

The tall case clock canvas is finished! All that remained to be stitched were the wallpaper and the top of the clock, which I managed to squeeze in around other chores the end of this week.

The one area that caused me a bit of concern was stitching the brass finials on the top of the clock. I wanted them to stand out from the wallpaper and also try to make the balls in the center look somewhat rounded as they are in the original Simon Willard clock I was adapting. So I grabbed some doodle canvas and the Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #221 to work out the right stitches.

Each finial was stitched in a three-stage process. The spike at the top is a vertical oblong cross stitch. The ball is stitched in a Smyrna cross variation, while the base is a single cross stitch.

I'm really pleased with the way this canvas turned out. It was a bit tricky keeping each element in its proper perspective, but by adjusting the types and weights of threads used, I think I've succeeded!

Back in business!

My DH had to go out in all the snow on Monday, and on his way home called to see if I needed him to pick up anything. I'm sure he was thinking about a grocery store run but, no, I had another request: three skeins of DMC floss #712 from Barry at my LNS! And, sweetheart that he is, he got them!

I set to work finishing the wainscoting. My previous photo showed the shading I'd added in DMC floss #822, but now you can really see the difference outlining the molding made.

Then I returned to stitching wallpaper, and am happy to report that so far, I haven't had a nasty run-in with any dark threads from the clock case! When I finish the wallpaper, I can complete the top of the clock and call this project a wrap.

A snowy weekend, a lot of stitching

It started snowing here on Saturday, so I psyched myself for a weekend of cooking, laundry and stitching. I'd already started the wallpaper, so continued with that, adding DMC floss #644 for the darker areas. As luck would have it, just as Saturday was winding down, so was my DMC floss #712!

After using up the last smidgen I had, and filling in with the #644, I moved on to the floor boards. These were worked in DMC floss #436 in a gobelin stitch over two threads, ending the stitch and restarting at random to mimic where the boards butted together. Next I added the shading around the wainscoting, using tent stitches in DMC floss #822.

By that time, it was still snowing, so I cautiously began to stitch the clock--I figured if I took care starting and stopping threads, I wouldn't cause problems for myself down the road with wisps of darker thread poking up when I added the off-white floss later. I used DMC floss #3685 for the face, with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #221 for the gold accents. With two plies of black floss, I added the markings at 3, 6 and 9 o'clock with a single cross stitch, then worked the hands in an oblong cross stitch. The banding on the clock cabinet was stitched with DMC floss #434, adding the Kreinik metallic for the corner trim.

On to the clock cabinet itself! For this I chose Sheep's Silk "Dark Chocolate," a silk/wool blend. Unlike other colors of Sheep's Silk, this one is more mottled than variegated, and as it comes out of the needle imitates the variation of color found in wood grain. The wool provides a loft, so the clock will be able to hold its own next to the perle cotton molding. And the silk element gives the sheen of well-oiled wood.

The snow kept falling and I kept stitching--by nightfall the clock was almost finished! I added the pull on the face using the Kreinik metallic in two cross stitches on top of one another, tacked down by a single horizontal stitch. The larger handle on the pulley enclosure was formed with an oblong cross stitch with a cross stitch centered on top of it.

Here's hoping I can plow my way out of here and get to my LNS for more floss soon!

Architectural elements: Moldings

The first sections I stitched on the tall case clock canvas were the moldings, which are really quite easy to execute in needlepoint with just a few simple stitches.

The thread I chose was DMC #5 perle cotton #712. I like using perle cotton for these architectural details: its slight twist gives the impression of wood grain while its thickness provides depth to the area being stitched.

The dentil crown molding was composed of a row of slanted gobelin stitches over two threads, followed by another row of the same stitch over three threads, ending with mosaic stitches for the dentils. The chair rail was worked in a slanted gobelin stitch over three threads, followed by a single row of tent stitches below.

The wainscoting was stitched in a slanted gobelin over two threads, taking care to miter the corners. The floorboard began with a single row of tent stitches, followed by slanted gobelin stitches over four threads.

I've started the wallpaper, using four plies of DMC cotton floss #712 to fill in the off-white areas. Already I think you can see that the perle cotton is doing its job to make the molding predominate over the wallpaper, which is as it should be!

Once in a blue moon

Every now and then, I come up with a slightly off-the-wall idea for a design. On this New Year's Eve, with a blue moon high in the sky, I'm counting down the minutes until midnight with a new clock design!

My inspiration for this design is an actual tall case clock crafted around 1796 by Simon Willard (1753-1848), the premier clockmaker of colonial America. Born in Grafton, Massachusetts, one of four clock-making brothers, Willard was singularly influential in advancing the design of clock movements at a point when wealthy colonists began to clamor for timepieces for their homes.

By the time this clock was made, Willard had moved to Roxbury, Massachusetts, where he set up shop with his brother Aaron. The advertisement for the clock described it as one of a line of "common eight-day clocks with very elegant faces and mahogany cases, priced from 50 to 60 dollars." Little did Simon Willard dream that just over two hundred years later, one of his tall case clocks would sell at auction for more than two million dollars!

The case itself, crafted by an unknown cabinetmaker, is of Hepplewhite design. It boasts of quarter-fan inlays, rope banding, and brass finials above the fretwork on the top. I've situated the clock in a hallway setting typical of the period, complete with dentil crown molding, chair rail and floor molding. Wallpaper above the chair rail and wainscoting below it are also in keeping with interior decoration of the day.

Join me as I explore new territory for 2010!